Beijingers get back on their bikes

Straylight

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 31, 2009
650
2
The most expensive model in Mr Zhang's shop is only 2,680 yuan ($390:£260).
Could you imagine the uptake here if this were the case, I know that a lot of Chinese bikes use SLAs for their home market - but still...

I also know about all the other ecconomic differences, but maybe the time has come for a totaly UK manufactured machine, particularly with the £ being so low. The only expensive bit would be the raw materials for the battery, everything else could be completely home grown.
 
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Straylight

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 31, 2009
650
2
The sale of electric bikes has slightly dropped off recently as people wait to see how the government will tackle the problem of how to define one.
Sound familiar?:D

As Beijing car owner Richard Liu put it, cars give a clue to a person's status - the more successful they are, the bigger the car they own.
I would hope that as cars have been ubiquitous for longer, that we have gotten over this here in Europe.
 

Alex728

Esteemed Pedelecer
Dec 16, 2008
1,109
-1
Ipswich
Could you imagine the uptake here if this were the case, I know that a lot of Chinese bikes use SLAs for their home market - but still...
The Chinese bikes are electric scooters which would be illegal in our country but possibly not powerful/safe enough to want to go on the road even with CBT/license/helmet etc.

E-bikes are "supposed" to be limited to 12mph like the UK once was. But in a similar way to their "Amsterdam style" attitude to recreational drugs, until recently the Chinese authorities were not enforcing the law because there wasn't a problem with excessive speed and injury collisions. This has now started to happen, with subsequent clampdowns.